When it comes to gaming the consensus for years was bigger is better. mATX motherboards were not made very well and their ability to run consistent voltages left much to be desired. Well all of that has changed with the use of solid state capacitors and new VRM technology the mATX boards have become power houses in their own right; so much so that the gaming market has perked up and taken notice. These boards come at a fraction of the price of a full sized ATX and they are much more compact. In Win took notice too, and as such they started coming out with mATX Gamers like the Dragon Slayer we will be looking at today. With all of the room for large graphics cards, cooling of a mid tower and the compact transportability of a mATX chassis this case has got it all. Let’s check it out and see if it is the be all end all, of your future mini gamer builds:

The Mjölner also known as Thors Hammer is depicted in Norse mythology as one of the most fearsome weapons, capable of leveling mountains. The Hammer was forged by Sindri (or Eitri) and his brother Brokkr after Loki bet his head that they could not make something as beautiful as what the dwarves named the Sons of Ivaldi had made (Odins Spear [Gungnir] and Freyers  Foldable Boat [Skídbladnir]). Well Loki lost this bet when the Hammer was created and because of a technicality having to do with not being able to cut off the head because the neck being cut was not part of the deal, so Brokkr sewed Loki’s mouth shut. So now that we have a history of this fabled hammer let’s see what this beautiful piece of engineering can do for your CPU Cooling needs. Will the Xigmatek Thors Hammer Live up to its Heritage or will we have to sew some mouths shut, let’s find out:

Gaming can be a dangerous sport, well virtually dangerous at least. At anytime you can be cut down by the next wave, having a little extra Armor is never a bad thing. Today we will be looking at your potential gaming wing man the Thermaltake Armor A60. This beautiful budget gaming chassis will make a great addition to any gaming rig and should impress even the most skeptical when they see the price tag. Although it may not actually help you physically in game at least you can look a little cooler at your next LAN event instead of sporting your moms Dell Case you decided to make your first build in, sure you should take pride in your first build but not if it makes you a pariah amongst the uber geeks of this world. Let’s take a look at the A60 and see if it is the best choice for your current or future builds:

I for one have never really put much faith into the whole SSD craze. I will admit I am always skeptical until proven wrong. Well I was proven wrong not once but three times. First time I tried an 80GB Solid State Drive from Intel two years ago I was blown away by its performance over other solid state drives, not to mention how it dominated traditional moving parts drives. Then when I tried the solid state hybrid that Seagate put out I was impressed yet again, now for the third and probably not the final time I was able to test out the new X25-M drive from Intel and believe me when I say this I was thoroughly impressed with its performance. Intel sent us not one but 2 SSD’s and a ton of other goodies to give them a thorough testing so let’s see what we were able to achieve and see if SSD gaming is right for you:

We log time with the very beginning of Platinum Games' frenetic shooter. We've gotten peeks here and there at Sega's upcoming action title Vanquish over the past few months, but not an opportunity for a proper sit-down with the game. That recently changed, as we got the opportunity to spend some quality time with Platinum Games' latest project to see how all the bits we've seen in the past come together as a whole. Playing through a work-in-progress PlayStation 3 version of the game, we were able to try out the first eight sections of the introductory chapter. Long story short, the whole thing painted an interesting picture of what to expect from this frenetic action game.

To quote a famous movie actor “I feel the need! The need for SPEED!” My friends, today we enter a new era of data transfer speeds. For several years we have heard of the rumored USB 3.0. Well here it is folks! And there it goes for most of us who have older computers with that doggy, tired, sluggish USB 2.0. But wait! Is that really so? Have you ever wondered that the tiny little slot above your nice, fast, expensive PCI Express video card was for? Well wonder no more! TrendNet fills that long empty spot and has come to the rescue with their TrendNet 2-Port USB 3.0 PCI Express Adapter. This affordable adapter promises USB 3.0 speeds at 5Gbps. Join me in a step into the future as we see what our ever-increasing need for speed has brought us. And it fits in that cute little slot, which is called a PCIEX1_1.